The President of
Equatorial Guinea was one of the 24 heads of state, who attended the
canonization, along with prime ministers and other senior representatives of
countries and international institutions. There were more than ninety official
delegations.

He was
accompanied by Constancia Mangue de Obiang, the First Lady of Equatorial Guinea.
Approximately one million people attended the ceremony.

Last year,
President Obiang met with Pope Francis at the Vatican and exchanged with
Vatican officials the instruments of ratification of an agreement with the Holy
See on relations between the Catholic Church and the Republic of Equatorial
Guinea. The agreement confirmed the good bilateral relations between the two
states, recognized the legal personality of the church and its institutions,
and covered canonical marriage, places of worship, educational institutions,
and spiritual assistance to the Catholic faithful in hospitals and prisons.